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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Op-Ed: Sophie of Wessex Loses her Personal Protection Officer

There was a big announcement this week that Sophie, Countess of Wessex has lost her privileges to having a full time security guard-however her children and husband, and the Duke of York and his daughters (all of which were rumored to be losing theirs as well in April) have maintained their personal protection services.

What’s wrong with this? I see the point of trying to save money in this ill-fated economy and to slim down the monarchy, but why do the York daughters have personal protection when they do nothing but follow daddy around and party (often making fools of themselves and the monarchy)?! They don’t perform Royal Duties on their own-they tag along with Dad or when the whole family appears, but other than that all they do is act like high profile socialites with titles. Yet, their aunt, who is said to be a favorite of Her Majesty, has performed 174 domestic duties and 14 overseas in the last year. Yet, SOPHIE is the one losing the protection. Sure, she and Edward live at Bagshot Park, a $30 Million estate and receive $141,000/year as members of the Civil list, but still…It just doesn’t make sense to me.

How does this make any sense? It should be if they perform acts in favor of the monarchy on their own or are minors in custody of someone performing duties on the Queen’s behalf full-time, like Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Prince William, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew, Duke of York; Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex; Anne, The Princess Royal; Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Prince Phillip, Duke of Endinburgh, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester; Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Katherine, Duchess of Kent, and minor grandchildren of Her Majesty James, Viscount Sevren and Lady Louise do on a regular basis. they are entitled to at least minimal protection-if Andrew wants his daughter’s protected, he should use his money that he receives from the civil list to protect them himself.

But that's just me. What do I know? I'm just an American commoner after all.